Ruminations on Life, the Universe and Everything... But mostly, Pakistan and Pakistani media...

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Slurring Education or How To Get "Neat" School Supplies

Even though Five Rupees has already blogged this, how could one go without sharing it?

Geo News reports on what notebook covers in Lahore's Urdu Bazaar are being made of. Hil-ar-ious!

Don't miss the repeated naming by Geo anchors of the "Red Label" and "Black Label" brands (Johnny Walker couldn't have got such advertising even if they paid for it!) and Ghareeda Faruqi's forced pun on "what kind of label" this attaches to education. As Ahsan points out in his post, the concern also seems to be especially over the fact that it was advertising for "ghair mulki sharaab" (foreign liquor) . . . as opposed to the local brands? My particular favourite is when anchor Salman Hassan asks the provincial education minister:

"Kya kahein gay aap ke jo maasoom bachay hain unn ko issi umr se pata chal jaye ga ke market mein kaun kaun si sharaabein available hain...?" (What would you say to the fact that innocent children will get to know at this age what brands of liquor are available in the market?)

Indeed. They should wait at least until they are 18.

But I have a few other questions for Geo to find out the answers to:

1) Are Black Label notebooks more expensive than Red Label ones?
2) Is whiskey getting preferential treatment? What about vodka, tequila, rum, wine and beer?
3) Are there any Single Malt notebooks?
4) Which brand did children have a preference for?
5) What does happen to the hundreds of thousands of cartons of foreign liquor discarded in Pakistan?

Post-Script: Would add a whole new meaning to teachers telling students to keep their copies "neat", wouldn't you say?

Yes, with this nazarya e Pakistan is in danger..! It's a conspiracy of libarals, west, amreeka, englend. Let's come out on the streets and kill a few kafirs. Chhee Chhee Chhee. Call a conference of the Ulema. They will protect and guide us! The liberal conspiracy complain about the killing of 100 Ahmedis but they are silent about this zarb on our iman! Kaffirs, all of them! Hic

What Is Cafe Pyala?

Come in, have a seat, sip some steaming chai from our pyala and enjoy. Cafe Pyala is named after the famous dhaba in Karachi known for its great tea and being open at all odd hours of the morning. But of course it's a metaphor for the ability to sit with friends, share, rant and discuss the goings on in the global pyala around us.

Facebook: /Pages/CafePyalaBlog

Twitter: @cpyala

Contacting Us

cafepyalaATgmailDOTcom

...If you have something SPECIFIC to share... some non-public documents, for example, that you would like us to blog about...